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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Tapestry of Grace: Year 1 Unit 1

We are very eclectic when it comes to our homeschooling. After seeing so many different curricular out there, I decided the eclectic approach works best for us to homeschool our son. It gives us more options to choose from so we can find things that cater to "his" learning style. I've become more relaxed than I was the first year since I'm learning all about the different teaching styles and philosophies. Being part of TOS Crew has allowed me to use curriculum that incorporates some of the different styles and methods. Recently we began using a product from a company that allowed us to get a feel for a "Classical" style of education. It's called Tapestry of Grace.

Tapestry of Grace's (TOG) history-based Unit Studies are sold through Lampstand Press. They are "designed to follow a Classical education using a guided unit study approach". Students from grades K-12th will go through 4 year cycles to learn World History. Tapestry Of Grace integrates many subjects like history, literature, geography, and fine arts to make learning fun and influential. From week to week your kids will learn about people, events, and movements through a time period. Each one is broken down like this:

Year 1

Unit 1: The Books of Moses (Creation/Egypt/Exodus)

Unit 2: All Governments are Established by God (Bronze Age)

Unit 3: Preparing the World for Its Savior (Solomon to Alexander the Great)

Unit 4: In the Fullness of Time (the Roman World)

Year 2

Unit 1: The Middle Ages

Unit 2: Renaissance & Reformation

Unit 3: Colonial America

Unit 4: The Age of Revolutions

Year 3

Unit 1: Napoleon's World (1800-1825)

Unit 2: The Birth of the Modern (1825-1850)

Unit 3: Nations Uniting and Dividing (1850-1875)

Unit 4: not currently available. Due for distribution in early February.

Year 4

* 20th century: 1875-present (information will be available soon)

We used their Year 1 Unit 1 Digital Edition (DE). The Yr. 1 Unit 1 covers creation to the Egyptians through the end of the Moses era. The price for DE is $45.00. You will need lock lizard in order to download the digital program. Then you will need a license to access all the files. This will be sent to you in an email after you have paid for, and downloaded your unit. You can also get a printed version for $60.00. I have to admit I found it hard using the classical method since we don't use curricula. I found it to be overwhelming for us to get into. I was glad they have lapbooks to go along with the units. Here's some pics of our completed lapbook...

They suggest using 2 pieces of 11" card stock folded in a shutter fold to make the lapbook. We didn't have anything but white card stock that wasn't big enough to use. I ended up using 2 regular file folders and an extension. Each file was to be printed on colored paper. We didn't have any colored paper so I used white paper and let my son color some of the pictures. We also found pictures online to use as a decoration for the outside. This was a 9 week unit. There are instructions on how to fold the mini booklets as well as what information you will need to look for to write in them.I am not sure we will be continuing on using any more Tapestry Of Grace units at this time. Being a new homeschooler, I still have lots to learn before I'll know if I'm comfortable using a curriculum of this kind. Their loom is a helpful resource to get you started. There is also a TOG forum and a yahoo group that can be of great help for those who are new to TOG.The curriculum looks very well put together and can be used for families with children of different ages. If you like giving your kids the classical style of education TOG may very well be worth you looking into. If you're like me and don't want your head spinning from all the information you have to read in order to use this curriculum, their lapbook supplement may suit your family's needs.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions written are entirely my own. Being a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I
was not paid to write this review but
received the product free of charge to review and give my honest
opinion.

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